Box Office: October 12-14

Venom lead the box office this week as some competition debuts. Well, competition in the sense that there were a few new movies that debuted this weekend that could have surprised. In its second weekend, Venom added another $35.7 million to its take combined with weekday shows that now brings it to a $142.8 million in ten days since opening. That 55% drop is fairly standard but it was expected to dip more than that so it’s a pretty good hold. It also added another $69.7 million overseas to bring it to a $378 million worldwide.

Also holding well from last weekend was A Star Is Born where it added another $28 million for a 35% drop over last weekend, but it did some big weekday numbers overall with its domestic total at $94 million. The film added a few new small markets overseas and had another $20 million added this weekend to bring it up to $41 million overseas or $135 million worldwide on a $36 million budget.

With new films this week, First Man ranked the highest with third place and $16.5 million as it barely beat out Goosebumps 2. First Man fell short of the $20 million expected and is getting mediocre reviews and word of mouth overall. It’s hoped that the film can crack the $100 million mark when all is said and done but with it playing male and older, that feels like a tough road ahead. Goosebumps 2 with its $35 million budget and a $16.2 million take that didn’t have Jack Black in the marketing since he had a limited role and was in a very similar looking film out now with The House with a Clock in its Walls did about on expectations. It’s heavily under the age of 25 for the audience with 72% falling in that realm and even with a “B” CinemaScore it’ll likely add some decent coin as it continues on.

Also out this week but not faring as well was Bad Times at the El Royale where it debuted at $7.2 million and a problematic “B-” CinemaScore from an audience that was 53% male and 73% over the age of 25, which is going to keep it from really standing out going forward even with the slick advertising.

Next weekend has just one new film out going wide with Halloween in 3,700 screens and that’s expected to do very, very, well. Fox is expanding The Hate U Give to 2,300 screens while Fox Searchlight is expanding The Old Man & The Gun to 600 screens.